This month's performance is to commemorate the Name Succession of Nakamura Shikan VIII and his three sons, Nakamura Hashinosuke IV, Nakamura Fukunosuke III and Nakamura Utanosuke IV.

Matinee (from 11:00 AM):

KICHIREI KOTOBUKI SOGA

[Meeting in the snow]

CAST :

Naginoha, Kudo's wife

:

Kataoka Hidetaro

Soga Hakoo

:

Nakamura Muneo taking a new name Nakamura Fukunosuke

Soga Ichiman

:

Nakamura Yoshio taking a new name Nakamura Utanosuke

Kobayashi Asahina

:

Nakamura Kunio taking a new name Nakamura Hashinosuke

Kusumi, a lady-in-waiting

:

Nakamura Shikimatsu taking a new name Nakamura Baika

Usami, a lady-in-waiting

:

Bando Shingo

Omi no Kotota

:

Nakamura Kikaku

Yawata no Saburo

:

Nakamura Matsue

STORY : This piece is an act of a history play based on the legend of the vendetta of Soga brothers and performed as a festive play to celebrate the New Year.
Kudo Suketsune ,a senior vassal of Minamoto no Yoritomo is appointed to the magistrate of the hunting session at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Suketsunefs wife Naginoha comes to Oiso to visit Izusan Shrine and Hakone Shrine as a substitute for her busy husband. As the party is taking a rest, brothers who name themselves Ichiman and Hakoo appear and question them severely that the person in the palanquin must be Suketsune himself. The brothers' father Kawazu Saburo was killed by Suketsune, so they watched the opportunity to avenge their father. In the midst of such disturbances Naginoha comes out of the palanquin. She tells them to wait for the chance and gives them the pass to enter the territory for the hunting ground which Suketsune left her.

KAJIWARA HEIZO HOMARE NO ISHIKIRI

[Stone-cutting Kajiwara]

CAST :

Kajiwara Heizo

:

Nakamura Hashinosuke taking a new name Nakamura Shikan

Oba Saburo

:

Nakamura Ganjiro

Kikuhei, a footman

:

Kataoka Shinnosuke

Kozue, Rokurodayu's daughter

:

Nakamura Kotaro

Matano Goro

:

Nakamura Kunio taking a new name Nakamura Hashinosuke

Kawashima Heihachi

:

Kataoka Matsunosuke

Yamaguchi Juro

:

Arashi Kitsusaburo

Kenbishi Nomisuke

:

Bando Yajuro

Rokurodayu

:

Nakamura Tozo

STORY : This play is an act from a history play set in 12th century.The Taira general Kajiwara is asked to test the sharpness of a sword by slicing two live human beings in half. He deliberately makes the sword fail the test to keep the sword, a priceless heirloom belonging to the enemy Genji clan, from falling into the hands of his Taira clan. A miracle has convinced Kajiwara to change sides. Kajiwara finally demonstrates the true power of the sword by cutting a large stone basin in two.

STORY: It is a sewamono play portraying a winter scene in a realistic way the lives of ordinary people in the Edo period.
In the pleasure quarters, the most important possessions were money and reputation. In danger of losing his lover, the courtesan Umegawa, the money courier Chube breaks the seals on a package of money entrusted to him after being taunted by a rival, even though the use of such money is punishable by death. In this scene, on their way to love suicide, the couple go through the snow covered landscape on their way to the man's home town where they will meet their end.

Evening Show (from 4:00 PM):

TSURU KAME

[The Crane and the Tortoise]

CAST:

Empress

:

Sakata Tojuro

The Crane

:

Nakamura Kunio taking a new name Nakamura Hashinosuke

The Tortoise

:

Nakamura Muneo taking a new name Nakamura Fukunosuke

An Attendant

:

Nakamura Yoshio taking a new name Nakamura Utanosuke

STORY: There is no particular plot to this dance, but simply shows a visit by the emperor to the Moon Pavilion where two courtiers dance as the spirits of the crane and tortoise.
The crane is said to live for a thousand years, the tortoise is said to live for ten thousand years. Together, they are a traditional symbol of longevity.

KOJO

[Stage Announcement]]

CAST:

Nakamura Hashinosuke taking a new name Nakamura Shikan

Nakamura Kunio taking a new name Nakamura Hashinosuke

Nakamura Muneo taking a new name Nakamura Fukunosuke

Nakamura Yoshio taking a new name Nakamura Utanosuke

Sakata Tojuro and other top rate actors are present.

STORY: The name of actors have been handed down from generation to generation throughout Kabuki's long history. This month Nakamura Hashinosuke succeeds to the name of Nakamura Shikan and each of his three sons also succeeds to a new name. This is the stage announcement of the succession. There is a close relationship between the stage and the audience in kabuki and this is shown by these ceremonial stage announcements where the top stars of the company address the audience directly.

KANJINCHO

[The Subscription List]

CAST:

Musashibo Benkei

:

Nakamura Hashinosuke taking a new name Nakamura Shikan

Minamoto no Yoshitsune

:

Nakamura Kaishun

Kamei Rokuro

:

Nakamura Kunio taking a new name Nakamura Hashinosuke

Kataoka Hachiro

:

Nakamura Muneo taking a new name Nakamura Fukunosuke

Suruga Jiro

:

Nakamura Yoshio taking a new name Nakamura Utanosuke

Hitachibo Kaison

:

Arashi Kitsusaburo

Togashi Saemon

:

Kataoka NIzaemon

STORY: The most famous play in the original "Juhachiban" and probably the most popular kabuki play today. It includes dance, comedy and the heart-warming pathos of a band of heroes during their last days. Disguised as a band of traveling priests the fugitive general Yoshitsune and his small band of retainers are stopped at a road barrier. They escape only through the quick thinking of the head retainer, a warrior priest named Benkei, who improvises the text of an elaborate imperial decree with an empty scroll. Togashi, the barrier guard allows them to pass, but one of his soldiers points out that there is a man who resembles Yoshitsune...

KARI NO TAYORI

[Tricky Love Letters]

CAST:

Sannigoroshichi, a barber

:

Nakamura Ganjiro

Otama, the madam of a brothel

:

Kataoka Takataro

Maeno Sajima, a young lord

:

Nakamura Kikaku

Tsukasa, Sajima's mistress

:

Nakamura Kotaro

Omitsu, a nurse

:

Nakamura Shikimatsu taking a new name Nakamura Baika

Genpaku, a doctor

:

Nakamura Jujiro

Takagi Jirotayu, Sajima's senior retainer

:

Bando Yajuro

Yorozuya Kinnosuke, a young master

:

Nakamura Hashinosuke taking a new name Nakamura Shikan

STORY: This piece is a representative play performed in Kansai (the region of Kyoto and Osaka) style of acting.
A young lord Maeno Sajima comes to Arima hot springs for health with his lover Tsukasa. Sajima sees how Tsukasa longs for a barber Goroshichi and feels jealousy towards him. Sajima plots with his vassals to send a forged love letter to Goroshichi. Much delighted Goroshichi sneaks into the inn, but they go so far as to call him a thief. As he was about to be accused for adultery, Sajima's chief retainer Jirodayu appears. He exposes Sajima's plot and saves Goroshichi. He finds out that Goroshichi is not a mere barber. Goroshichi is in reality...

This performance has no English "G-Mark Guide" (captioning) rental service.
@Programs with English pages are sold at the theatre.
(Most of the pages are in Japanese)